100 Days of Kindness

I think I may have mentioned the other day that things in my life and world are changing. The last year and especially the last few months have been both eye opening and life altering. We as a family have been through a great deal of sadness, hurt, frustration and our fair share of negativity, however...through it all, we have been inundated with kindness from others. And not even in my own life, but just by watching, I have seen a wave of kindness emerging that has shown me that the good, the positive and even the smallest act of kindness can truly change anything and everything.

I had started seeing a lot of this last year, so it was no coincidence that my New Year's resolution for 2018 was simply to be....kinder. I wanted kindness to be a part of my everyday world. I wanted it to be as natural as breathing and to get to the point that almost all of my actions, consciously or sub-consciously were based in kindness. Sadly, this is sometimes harder than you think, especially when we live in a bit of a narcissistic and self-absorbed world.

My year began with me, just trying to implement simple changes in my everyday actions such as making it my mission to smile at everyone. I read somewhere that receiving a smile from someone can be healing and even mood changing. In fact, your smile might be the only positive act that someone receives in their world that day. And while smiling at someone else should in no way have selfish undertones, it has been suggested that if you smile at others and spread that bit of kindness and positivity out there, well it also improves your mood too.

Another thing that I was consciously trying to do was to spread kindness through my words. It is very easy to open your mouth and let negativity come out. We just seem as a people, whether it is in our own homes, work or even out in the world to comment on the negative and spread that crap around whether it is off-handed and inconsiderate remarks, gossip about others or just down right, in your face, unnecessary hatefulness. It is much easier to tell someone what they did wrong than to look for what they did right. It is also much easier it seems to condemn than praise and sadly sometimes I think we do it with the attitude that we are helping, but are we? I know that everyone needs a little tough love from time to time and that may mean hearing something of a negative nature, but not everyday. So I started complimenting instead of just commenting, saying please and thank you and taking the time to choose my words more carefully when speaking with or to others.

Finally, I started trying each and everyday to find something I could do to be kind. I made it my mission to not just being kinder in my own home and my own little world, but to start trying to be kinder out in the real world, where I am absolutely convinced we need it the most. I tried to see everything I did and every place I went as an opportunity for kindness and then I would take it that step further and make sure I was doing it for the right reasons and do my best to keep those tiny acts to myself. I wanted to promote kindness.....not myself.

As you all know, when February hit and the bottom temporarily dropped out of my world, I made it my mission to not get angry or bitter but to continue to try to be kind in every situation, regardless of what was going on in my life. Blessedly, David and I were shown so much unbelievable kindness during this time that it was overwhelming and I realized that somehow, some way, I was really going to have to up my kindness game. So each day, I shared the kindness and today I continue that.

Today is June 1st and what better way to promote kindness than by starting summer out with a kindness campaign? Summer is a time when we seem to be more social, come in contact with more people (online and off) and it just seems like the perfect time to get out there and touch lives with kindness. So as of today, I am starting 100 Days of Kindness. It is my own personal campaign that will run from today until September 8th. In these next 100 days, I am going to do everything I can to promote kindness among my friends and in my own little world and to actively spread as much kindness as I can. Just think, even if each of us only did one tiny, small act of kindness each day and all of my fb friends and blog readers participated, can you imagine just how much kindness we would put out into the world? And if it is true and kindness begets kindness, well then your small act and my small act maybe the catalyst for thousands and maybe even millions of other acts of kindness....both big and small.

So where do we begin? Right in your own home, at your work, on social media, at the grocery store and among your own friends. Smile, use positive words, help a friend or neighbor, help a stranger, give financially and anonymously to someone who may need it, pray for someone, take an elderly persons trash out, mow someones lawn who might have trouble mowing their own, or do something for someone....just because. The possibilities are literally endless and I am sure in the next 100 days that many more opportunities to be kind will present themselves. 

Now I can't speak for anyone else, but I myself am so tired of all the negativity. I am tired of watching people tear each other down and talk with such disrespect towards others over politics, race, religion, differences of opinion and all the other things that people seem to think are worth degrading, demoralizing and disrespecting others over. Fueled with this frustration, it occurred to me one day that if we all were actively kinder to one another, many of these issues of politics, race and religion wouldn't be such grave issues anymore. So in reality, these small acts of kindness could have far more outreaching and positive affects on our world than we can currently even imagine.

So today I begin. Today is Day#1 of 100 Days of Kindness. I truly hope that after reading this that you too might want to join this campaign. I also would be very interested in hearing your thoughts and ideas on acts of kindness and how you are spreading kindness or better yet, how someone has made your day or even changed your life with an act of kindness. Just remember, one small act of kindness could literally be the catalyst for a million more. #100daysofkindness #bekind #kindnesschangeseverything